Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of SAHA Istanbul
Established nine years ago to ensure the involvement and integration of private sector dynamism in the defence industry in Türkiye, SAHA Istanbul has progressively expanded to become the largest industrial cluster in both Türkiye and Europe. Our cluster, which aims to spark collaboration between the public and private sectors, as well as academia, continues to strive towards its goals of fostering cooperation in the defence industry, financial efficiency, sustainability, synergy, export, and training.
The defence and aerospace industry is an ecosystem shaped by its own unique dynamics. Today, with the introduction of new technologies into the field, we see that both defence concepts and the elements that constitute security are constantly evolving. Countries that develop new technologies not only come to the forefront, but also have a solid economic structure through exports.
Countries that catch up with the rapid advances in technology are making great gains not only in the military field but also in the economic sense. Recent regional conflicts and crises have once again demonstrated how critical national defence capacity is. High and innovative technologies are no longer just an option but have become the cornerstones of our independence and strategic strength.
With the strength we derive from the nationalisation vision that we have strongly implemented, we are experiencing an important breakthrough process for full independence in the defence and aerospace sectors where high technology development is essential. In the last 20 years, we have greatly reduced foreign dependency and moved from being a country that consumes high technology to a country that produces it. Today, we produce unmanned aerial and naval vehicles and warships that attract attention worldwide, and we offer many products with significant capabilities to the global market.
While the turnover of our defence and aerospace industry was around 1 billion dollars in 2002, we have seen this figure reach 12 billion dollars in 2023. Likewise, our export figures as a country are constantly increasing. In 2023, our defence industry exports reached 5.5 billion dollars, and in 2024, we aim to increase this success even further and exceed the target of 6 billion dollars. The dynamism and bold, innovative strategies of our companies continue to strengthen and enhance our sector.
The SAHA EXPO International Defence & Aerospace Industry Exhibition has been held since 2018, under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, with the support of the Ministry of National Defence and other relevant ministries and the Secretariat of Defence Industries. This year, we are preparing to bring together more than 1200 domestic and international companies and many official and commercial delegations from all corners of the world. This year, with the theme of ‘Rule the Technology, Shape the Future’, we are hosting exhibitors and visitors in an area of 90 thousand square metres.
Serving as an international platform to showcase Türkiye's rising defence and aerospace production potential and independent production power, our exhibition features many high-tech products of the defence, aerospace, maritime and space industries. We will provide the opportunity for our companies producing these products to meet with international exhibitors, official and commercial delegations. We see this event not only as a fair, but also as a meeting where all stakeholders of the global ecosystem come together and share the latest technologies with B2B and G2G meetings.
Finally, we are extending our exhibition from four days to five days this year, and the public days to two days, Friday and Saturday. This year, we expect more than 150,000 guests.
(Haluk Bayraktar is also the CEO of Baykar Defense)
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